This invention represents a significant departure and advance in the field of fastener attachment systems as represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,444,597, 3,103,666, 3,470,834 as well as many others.
Over a period of about 10 years a significant new field has been developed using plastic fastener attachment devices to facilitate the coupling of materials together.
The uses have been numerous in both commercial and consumer applications. For example, retail establishments have found great utility for such devices in coupling tags to merchandise, coupling a pair of articles e.g., gloves, shoes, etc., together, or in coupling layers of fabric together with an apparatus such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666.
Consumers and others have also found use for the above mentioned type of plastic fastener attachment devices in the coupling of buttons to clothing with an apparatus such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,834.
Although the field has grown quite rapidly in situations where only a few or one fastener attachment device is dispensed, it has been found that there are significant limitations in the use of the devices, as the devices are currently supplied (as stock) for use in production line situations requiring the reliable rapid fire dispensing of devices (one after the other) without the necessity of significant amounts of down time for reloading or for correcting system jamming.
As may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 each of the fastener attachment members is coupled to a carrier rod by a neck member and is automatically fed into the fastener dispensing apparatus of an indexing wheel which engages a connecting neck member to advance the carrier rod.
While theoretically there is no reason why long lengths of stock such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 can not be provided, there are practical fabrication problems as well as device stock storage problems which limit the length of the carrier rod and thus the number of attachments which may be carried for subsequent automatic or semi-automatic dispensing. The stock shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 also suffered from a signficant disadvantage in that carrier rod and necks represented waste and thus loss in profits as well as a waste disposal problem.
For the foregoing reasons a new and improved waste-less or scrap-less fastener attachment stock capable of being transformed (divided) into literally hundreds or even thousands of attachment devices was needed. This was a particular requirement for high speed industrial applications, where down time for reloading would represent a significant loss in revenue and thus make the use of the system less desirable than other ways of providing a similar result.
As a special requirement of any stock which may be suitable for industrial applications it is also necessary that the down time due to system jamming be kept at an absolute minimum.
Accordingly, a new and improved stock was also required which would at all times be positively controllable as it is being carried and fed into the dispensing device.
In particular it is most important that the stock be such that it is one integral unit with no loose ends or portions. In this way positive control during feeding and alignment of the stock in the dispensing apparatus may be insured and thus less frequent system jamming and less down time will result. This aspect, i.e., that the stock be one integral unit with no loose ends or parts, is also important since the preferred manner of storing the stock is on a roll or folded over itself in a compressed stock arrangement. If there were loose ends or parts such as the bottom or heads 32 in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666, tangling would also occur if the stock was rolled up or folded over itself as shown herein.
It is also extremely desirable that no projecting bars 32 such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 be present to insure that the stock does not intermesh and jam during feeding from a compressed stored configuration as shown herein.
Another important feature of the stock of this invention is that the fastener attachment members formable therefrom may be formed in the dispensing apparatus during dispensing with equal length end bars on either side of the cross link member. In the preferred configuration of the attachment device the cross link is coupled to the end bar between the ends thereof and most preferably intermediate the ends thereof.
The attachment device of this invention also provides a most important advantage in that the fastener attachment bars may be simultaneously fed through one or more needles to couple a button having one or more holes to material or join two or more pieces of material together. It may also be preferable as shown herein that end bars not show above the bottom or top of one of the material surfaces.